by Lisa Harris
He waited until they were close enough for him to step into the other boat, where their suspect sat tied to one of the metal handles, his jaw tense, and looking as if he was ready for another fight. Jack used his pocketknife to cut him free from the rail, then escorted him to the other boat.
“Search him, then secure him,” Jack said to Beckett. “Is there a way to tow the boat back with us so we can keep any evidence secure?”
Beckett handcuffed their suspect to a seat, then picked up one of the boat lines. “I can rig a single bridle line and make sure we don’t go too fast and overload the engine. We’ll just have to make sure we spread the load, so we don’t put too much of a strain on this one.”
“Do it. I’ve got the boat’s hull identification number, so they can start tracing it now.”
A moment later, he was back in the police boat with the suspect’s phone and a photo of the boat’s ID. He put in a radio call to his brother.
“I just heard you found her,” Adam said.
“I did, and I’ve also got a suspect in custody. Apparently he was planning to meet someone and hand her over to them. I don’t have any details, other than another boat out there was planning to rendezvous with him.”
“Copy that. Get back here as soon as you can. We’ll put out an updated APB and find them.”
“I’m texting you a photo of the boat’s identification number so you can start tracking the boat’s history. See what you can find.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“No, but I plan to find out.”
Jack ended the call as the two boats glided through the shallow water.
“Jack?”
He bent down next to Bree. “What can I get you?”
“Nothing.” She glanced toward the bow at their suspect. “He wouldn’t answer any questions, but I want to give it another try.”
“He’ll be questioned, I promise, but not by you.”
Her frown deepened. “Why not? He shot Papps. I can’t just let it go.”
Jack squeezed her shoulder. “I’m not asking you to let it go. I’m just asking you to let me handle it right now.”
She nodded, but her hands were shaking in front of her.
“Tell me what happened,” he said.
“I’d been so excited about taking some time off and being here with Papps and his family,” she said. “You know he’s always been more of a father to me than my own father. We were just starting to head back to camp, and then . . . I heard a gunshot, and he went down. There was blood everywhere . . . all over him . . . all over me.”
He took her wrist and felt her racing pulse. Her chest heaved as she fought for a breath.
“Bree.” He squeezed her hands. “You’re having a panic attack. I want you to take a slow, deep breath. I’m right here with you, and you’re safe.”
“He can’t die, Jack.”
“You know the doctors are doing everything they can to save him. As for the man who shot him, we’ll get him to talk and find out what’s behind all of this, but for right now, Bree . . . you’re still shaking.” He rubbed her arms, trying to get her circulation going again. “You need to get warmed up. Breathe slowly for me—long deep breaths—and let me handle things for now. Please.”
“Then go talk to him. The sooner we get answers, the sooner we can find out who else is involved and put a stop to this. We need to know who they’re looking for.”
“I will, but you come first right now—”
“I’m okay.”
He hesitated, not wanting to leave her. “Do you recognize him?”
“No. I’ve never seen him before.” Bree rubbed her hands together. “Do you think an assassination attempt is what happened? Someone who doesn’t like the senator’s political positions?”
“That could be an explanation, but if that’s true, why take you?”
“I haven’t been able to put that together. I’ve had threats against me, but so has Papps. There are those who hate him just because he’s in politics.”
He opened the first-aid kit again, grabbed an antiseptic wipe, and started dabbing at the blood on her forehead. She winced at his touch but didn’t pull away. Memories of the last time he’d seen her surfaced, but this wasn’t the time or place to dig up memories of the girl he used to go biking with in Oso Creek Park and fishing with in the summertime.
Or the girl he’d started falling in love with.
He put on a dab of antibiotic cream and frowned. He’d always wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t left. If he’d stayed and risked seeing what could have happened between them. But none of that mattered right now. What mattered was finding out who was behind all of this so he could keep her safe.
“Tell me again exactly what happened.”
He could see the fear in her eyes, and the exhaustion. But there was a determination as well. He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t going to just walk away from this. She was going to fight until she found out the truth. She was switching modes—from victim to survivor. Which meant that, as much as he wanted to protect her, she would want to be in on taking down whoever was behind all of this. The first step was to take her statement while everything was fresh on her mind.
“I was out before sunrise. The sky was beautiful with the stars. Papps knew where to find me. It’s quiet, and he knows I like to soak it in before the day begins. We sat and talked for a while before it was time to go back to the blind. We’d just started walking when I heard a shot that sounded like it came from the northeast. It sounded close. At first I thought the hunt had officially started, but then Papps told me he’d been hit.”
“Did you think it was simply an accidental shooting?”
“That was my immediate assumption. That it had been a stray bullet. But things didn’t add up. It was a rifle instead of a shotgun, and the man who shot Papps not only used a silencer to muffle the sound, but definitely wasn’t shooting in the direction of any waterfowl. Then when he grabbed me . . . I knew it hadn’t been an accident. He’d shot Papps on purpose.”
“What we don’t know is why,” Jack said.
“What’s the working theory of the authorities at this point?” she asked.
“I’m not sure they have one. At least not until they’re able to get your statement and question the shooter. Do you know anyone who would want to kill Senator McKenna?”
“I’m sure Papps has a list of enemies, and I think that’s the right place to start, but I have no idea. He’s enjoying retirement. His sons will know more specifics, but he’s never mentioned any concerns to me about his safety.” She reached out and grabbed his hand. “If you won’t let me talk to this guy, then you go talk to him. Find out who he is. The more information we have, the quicker we’ll be able to move on this.”
Jack hesitated. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “Shook up, yes, but I’m fine.”
He stepped up next to Beckett at the wheel. “How much longer till we get back to the search base?”
“I’m having to take it slower than normal with the tow, but I’d say . . . ten minutes tops.”
Jack moved to the front of the boat where Beckett had secured the man. Bree was right about one thing. The sooner they identified who he had planned to hand her off to, the easier it was going to be to find them. With dozens of boats out on the water on any given day, finding the second boat without having that information was nothing more than a shot in the dark at this point.
Jack sat down on the edge of the port side. “What’s your name?”
The man stared out across the boat, ignoring him.
“Who were you planning to meet on the other boat?”
Still nothing.
“In case you aren’t aware, we have in our possession the weapon that I believe will prove that you shot Senator McKenna. Which means you’re going to be arrested not only for kidnapping, but for attempted murder as well. And if the senator dies . . .”
The only reaction was the slight
tightening of the muscles in his jawline.
“From what I know so far, they hired you to either murder the senator or kidnap her, but unfortunately for you, neither sentence will have you out on parole for a very long time.”
There was still no response, but this wasn’t over. They’d get him to talk and find out who was behind this. It was just a matter of time.
They were quiet the rest of the way, with only the familiar buzz of the flat-bottom motor rumbling beneath them until a dozen vehicles lining the shoreline came into view. Jack helped her out of the boat and onto the ramp where Adam was waiting for them.
“Bree . . . I am so, so sorry this happened. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Bree said, “but I need an update on the senator.”
“The latest news I have is that he’s stable and in surgery. I’ll pass on anything else as soon as I hear it.”
Adam signaled for a couple of the officers to secure the suspect and the boat, then turned back to them. “Anything out of your suspect?”
Jack shook his head. “He’s refusing to speak right now.”
“Here’s the question we all have,” Adam said. “Why shoot the senator and grab you?”
She shrugged. “I wish I knew. I’ve run the scenario over and over in my mind, and it always comes back to my connection with the senator. Leverage . . . ransom . . . I don’t know. If this was a for-ransom kidnapping, I’m not worth anything financially on my own, but my relationship with him is no secret. Papps was like a father to me.”
“As far as I know,” Adam said, “there have been no ransom demands, but his sons as well as his office are putting a list together of potential enemies that we’ve already started going through.”
Jack frowned. “That could be a long list. The man was in politics. No one gets away unscathed in that business, even in retirement.”
“At least it gives us a place to start and hopefully something we can work with,” Adam said.
Jack took a step back and caught Bree’s gaze. “What if you were the target? You were the one grabbed, and you mentioned threats against you.”
Bree hesitated before answering. “It is possible that everything that’s happened is my fault.”
“Your fault?” Jack asked. “Why?”
She drew in a deep breath before answering his question. “The threat I received was from a man my partner and I arrested a few days ago.”
“Who was it?”
“You’ve probably heard of him. He’s been in the news. His name is Nico Graves. He killed his wife and two children.”
“I’ve been following his story,” Jack said. “It was a sad case, though I didn’t know you were one of the detectives involved. He’s a guy who needed to be off the streets.”
She shook her head. “The way he looked at me as they were taking him away, like he could see right through me. Like he hated me and planned for me to be his next victim.”
“Did he say anything specifically to you?”
“He said he was going to send people over to my house to finish me off. He also claimed to know where a couple of the other detectives involved in the case lived.”
“That’s definitely not something we can ignore,” Adam said.
“He’s behind bars, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hire someone. And if Papps dies because of one of my cases . . .”
Jack heard her voice catch, and he reached out and squeezed her hand, wishing he could help her shake the guilt. “Don’t even go there.” He knew from experience that wasn’t a place she needed to go. He turned to Adam. “Let whoever’s in charge here know about Graves and get them to investigate that lead right away.”
Adam nodded and walked away.
“If nothing else,” Bree said, “with the gun and the phone, there’s leverage to get him to cooperate. I started to question him, but he refused to talk, which means right now we need to—”
“Hold on, Bree.” Jack held up his hand. “Before you come up with a long to-do list, the first place you’re going is to get checked out by a doctor. You’re going to need stitches at a minimum.”
“Fine, but I need you to promise me one thing.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I want in on finding whoever’s behind this.”
Jack shook his head. “I can’t make any promises.”
“More than likely, they’re going to rope the FBI into this, which means you’ll have plenty of say. Not only was someone I love just shot, I’m trained to handle situations like this. There’s no way I’ll just sit around and watch this go down.”
“You always were stubborn.”
“Funny. I’m serious, Jack.”
Shots rang out. Someone screamed.
“Gun!” Jack shouted, searching the shoreline for the shooter. “Everybody down, now!”
CHAPTER FIVE
JACK GRABBED BREE’S ARM and pulled her behind a large cement block, then glanced around it, trying to determine where the shots were coming from. There was only one response in a situation like this for law enforcement and first responders, and that was to locate and disarm the shooter. But Jack was pinned down and helpless. He watched a speedboat carry the gunman past the dock as he emptied another round of bullets. People screamed as they scrambled for cover. Then a second later, the shots stopped as suddenly as they had started.
Bree scrambled to her feet a split second before him. “They just shot our only lead.”
Jack moved beside her out into the open. The boat had reversed course and was heading back out into deep water. And their prisoner lay motionless on the ground.
Adam was shouting into his radio for an ambulance. Another officer hurried to the fallen man and started assessing him while a pool of blood gathered beneath his head.
Bree ran for the shoreline and the police boat they’d just been in. “We need to go after them.”
There was no time to make a plan. She was already halfway up the boat ramp. Jack followed her, determined she wasn’t going to go after them alone. She was right that they needed to find the men behind this, but they also needed a strategy. He still had his weapon, but she was unarmed, shifting any odds against them. Ten seconds later, he was following her orders and untying the stern and bow lines while she started the engine, thankful someone had already untied the boat they’d been towing.
Adam jumped into the stern of the boat as the engine roared to life. “Go!”
Bree maneuvered away from the dock, then sped across the water in the direction of the shooters.
“What just happened back there?” Adam shouted above the noise of the motor.
“I have no idea, but our suspect got caught in the middle.”
“Or maybe, like you and the senator, he was targeted.”
There was no way to determine the motivation at this point—other than someone had to have wanted to silence the man—but from what Jack had seen, he was pretty sure the perpetrators had swept in and done exactly what they’d planned to do before leaving. And that was to kill their suspect.
Bree gripped the helm. “How fast can this thing go?”
“You should be able to get at least sixty knots out of it. Which is hopefully faster than their boat.”
Jack stood beside her, surprised at the feelings of protection sweeping through him at the sight of her stepping into danger. He didn’t want her out here risking her life, but he knew he was wrong to be worried. Bree wasn’t the teenage best friend he remembered from over a decade ago. She was trained to handle a situation like this and knew exactly what she was doing. He remembered her as being carefree and even a bit impulsive, but her instincts had almost always been dead-on.
But as proficient as she was, he also knew she’d been through a trauma this morning. Not only had she watched someone shoot her father figure right in front of her, she’d been grabbed and kidnapped. What she’d gone through would disturb even a seasoned law enforcement officer. He glanced at her and caught the determination in her face. She’d b
e okay, but at some point she would have to face what had just happened and the emotional repercussions she wouldn’t be able to ignore.
Adam stood to the side, holding on to one of the grab rails while talking with his supervisor and requesting another boat along with a helicopter for backup. They skimmed across the water with the enemy boat racing ahead of them in the shallow waters. Law enforcement used these sleek boats because of their lightweight design, speed, and maneuverability in both shallow and rough waters, but it was going to take skill to catch up with the other boat and ensure no one was hurt in the process. But if anyone could outmaneuver the enemy, Bree could.
He turned to his brother. “Are they sending backup?”
“There’s a second boat behind us, and the chopper’s five minutes out.”
Jack shook his head. “That won’t be good enough. They’ll be long gone by then if we don’t get them first.”
“Then we better be prepared for a confrontation.”
Adam unlocked one of the storage compartments and pulled out a handgun and two rifles. He shoved the handgun into his back holster and set one of the rifles next to Bree.
“Glad you’re on our team,” he said.
She glanced down at her camo jacket and pants. “I might not be in uniform, but I’m ready for a fight.”
Jack stared out across the water. The other boat had vanished. “Do you see him?”
“He slipped out of view,” she said, “but he should be just beyond that next bend.”
They sped along the water, still with no sign of the other boat. Jack felt his neck muscles tense. There were miles of inlets in this area, and many of them didn’t allow motor-driven boat traffic. Which meant the sound of a motor should stand out.
Jack squeezed her shoulder. “Turn off the motor.”
She nodded, then shut it down and let the boat coast across the water. They listened for the other boat. There were dozens of inlets and coves where a boat could slip in and disappear. The familiar sounds of ducks and other birds played out around them. Finally, he heard the sound of a motor humming ahead of them. Jack signaled toward the east.